Rhetorical Analysis Of Coretta Scott King's Speech

“Death is the only pure, beautiful conclusion of a great passion” (David Herbert Lawrence). Coretta Scott King was an inspiring person to women of all ages and races. However her death had an impact on everyone, she was seen as an idol, more importantly as a leader. Malcom X’s daughter Attallah Shabazz who is also Mrs. King’s most pride supporter addresses her remarks in her eulogy and engages the people at the funeral service for Mrs. King on the sorrowful day of February 7th, 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia. With hundreds of people, (mainly women) watching on TV or listening in the stands during this depressing time reflect and honor on the achievements and positive attitude she had on the community for others. Attallah Shabazz hoped that this event

By adding in some examples of parallelism, it enhances the ideas that she wants to express. By enhancing those ideas, the people get affected in an emotional manner. Getting emotional by her ideas, they get motivated and they thank her for what she has done and they’ll want to make an impact the same way Mrs. King has impacted them. An example in her speech is “You knew what grace looked like. You knew what poise looked like.” What Ms. Shabazz means is that Coretta Scott King was a prominent figure, she was an example for others. She was special that if people needed a role model to look up to, she was the one. This is parallelism because it’s the same structure for both sentences, the words you knew followed by a positive adjective. The reason why Ms. Shabazz did this is because she was enhancing the idea that Mrs. King was a prominent person and because of this people should be thankful for her and follow in her footsteps. Being the type of person she was led to the accomplishments she achieved. Another phrase in her eulogy is “We have lost many on that walk, on that journey, who stood steadfast -- steadfast, giving and doing, serving and being, sharing and extending… We have come over to-day!" "We have achieved today…” This explains how because of Mrs. King’s devotion and personality the African-American community has achieved so much. It’s because of this that there is more equality and more opportunities than in the 1960s. As well as how this quote explains that due to the sacrifices many people made for this idea brought on by Mr. and Mrs. King that there is a better future. The reason why Attallah Shabazz brings this up is because she wants to highlight that Mrs. King did all this for the people she loved. It’s because of this that Ms. Shabazz wants the audience to realize and be thankful for what she’s done and be